The present invention relates to control arrangements in general for monitoring the emission of fuel vapors in motor vehicles. The invention especially relates to a method and an arrangement for operating a fuel tank system of a motor vehicle, especially for carrying out a time-to-time tightness check of the fuel tank system wherein an active charcoal filter is provided for taking up gaseous or vaporous fuel formed in the fuel tank system.
Present-day combustion-driven motor vehicles mostly include a fuel supply tank as well as a control arrangement for monitoring and, if required, for preventing the emission of fuel vapors formed the fuel supply tank. The control arrangement functions especially for collecting occurring fuel vapor by means of an active charcoal filter and to temporarily store the fuel vapor in the active charcoal filter. Volatile fuel vapors, that is, mostly hydrocarbon vapors, form, for example, during a tanking operation of the vehicle or because of an increasing fuel temperature in the tank and because of an increase of the fuel vapor pressure which is associated therewith.
The storage capacity of the active charcoal filter drops continuously with an increase in the quantity of the stored hydrocarbon and it is therefore necessary to regenerate the active charcoal filter at regular intervals; that is, it is necessary to again remove the stored hydrocarbons from the active charcoal filter. For this purpose, the active charcoal filter is connected via a regeneration valve to an intake manifold of the engine which functions to induct combustion air. By opening the regeneration valve, a pressure drop develops between the active charcoal filter and the intake manifold by means of which the hydrocarbon, which is stored in the active charcoal filter, is conducted into the intake manifold in order to finally be combusted in the engine and thereby be disposed of.
With respect to the foregoing, attention is called to the stricter statutory regulations for the operation of internal combustion engines sought by governments in several countries, such as the United States of America. According to these regulations, it is, for example, required that motor vehicles, in which volatile fuels such as gasoline are used, have control arrangements referred to initially herein which can detect an existing leakage in the tank or in the entire tank-venting system.
A corresponding method and arrangement for diagnosing leaks in fuel tank systems of motor vehicles is suggested in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/221,856, filed on Sep. 17, 2002. This application is based on a recognition of pressure changes which are detected by a pressure sensor mounted within the fuel tank and those pressure changes which occur in the blocked fuel tank during a parked phase of the vehicle. In this context, one utilizes especially the underpressure of the tank content which develops with a possible cooling down of the fuel tank. In the case of an existing leak, the pressure increases slowly because ambient air can flow into the tank via the leak. With a simple pressure measurement, the presence of a leak in the tank or in the entire tank system can be determined.
Alternatively, the underpressure can also be generated actively by the internal combustion engine. The tank or the entire fuel tank system is connected to the intake manifold for a short time in a pressure-conducting connection whereby an underpressure, which corresponds to the intake manifold underpressure, develops in the tank. Such a procedure is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,115.
Furthermore, a method and an arrangement are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,902 wherein, in contrast to the two previous examples, an overpressure is generated in the tank and the drop of the overpressure is checked for leak diagnosis.
In the above-mentioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/221,856, filed on Sep. 17, 2002, it is furthermore described that, with the pressure sensor, also an overpressure, which develops in the case of a warming of the tank content, can be applied correspondingly in the opposite direction for leakage diagnosis. The frequency of defective diagnoses can be reduced by using underpressure and overpressure conditions in the leakage test.
The known tests and arrangements have the disadvantage that an overpressure develops when an untightness or a leak of the fuel tank develops after a warming of the fuel tank and therefore of the tank content which leads to hydrocarbon-containing gas or vapor flowing past the active charcoal filter and into the ambient through the leak. In a motor vehicle, this is especially then the case when this overpressure forms during a parked phase of the vehicle because, in this case, the excess gas or vapor cannot be drawn off by suction actively by means of an engine-driven pump or by an underpressure (for example, via the intake manifold) effected by the engine itself.
The above-mentioned situation, which leads to the overpressure in the fuel tank, can furthermore occur without the described warming of the fuel tank, namely, for example, when the ambient pressure drops because of weather conditions.
It is a task of the present invention to provide a method and an arrangement as described initially herein which avoid the above disadvantages and which minimize especially the above-mentioned loading of the ambient with hydrocarbons. Furthermore, it should be possible to implement such a method and arrangement as simply as possible and therefore as cost effectively as possible. Especially in view to a use in a motor vehicle, the arrangement should furthermore cause the least possible increase in weight of the fuel tank system.
What is special with respect to the method of the invention is that first a gas-referred or vapor-referred physical state quantity is detected such as the gas pressure or vapor pressure or the gas temperature or the vapor temperature in the interior of the fuel tank system and/or in the vicinity of the vehicle. From the data so obtained, a gas or vapor pressure in the fuel tank system, which is to be expected, is determined. Accordingly, a probable prediction is made as to how the gas or vapor pressure will develop because of the present state quantities, that is, whether an overpressure or an underpressure is to be expected after a pregivable time. In the case of an overpressure of the gaseous or vaporous fuel in the tank system, which is to be expected, compared to the corresponding pressure in the ambient of the vehicle, the gaseous or vaporous fuel is guided out of the fuel tank system via the active charcoal filter into the ambient of the vehicle. In the opposite case of an underpressure, which is to be expected, the fuel tank system or the fuel tank alone is closed off so as to be gas tight or vapor tight, that is, hermetically sealed off in order to make possible especially a tightness check of the fuel tank system by means of the underpressure which is present.
Preferably, and before the above-mentioned method steps have been run, a check is made as to whether parking the vehicle is to be expected. The usual mechanisms for drawing off existing excess fuel gases or vapors cannot be activated because of the engine at standstill. For this reason, a higher risk is present in precisely this situation that hydrocarbons can escape to the outside via a possibly present leak.
To improve the quality of the prediction in connection with the determination of the mentioned pressure conditions, it can be further provided that the particular physical condition quantity, that is, the temperature and/or the pressure, are detected in the fuel tank system as well as also in the ambient of the vehicle. Here, it can be provided that the fuel tank system is only closed off gas tight or vapor tight when a pregivable negative gradient is determined between the outside temperature (temperature outside of the vehicle) and the interior temperature of the fuel tank. In this case, one can expect an underpressure buildup in the fuel tank which effectively prevents an escape of hydrocarbons via a possibly present leak.
Correspondingly, and according to the invention, a gas tight or vapor tight closing of the fuel tank system or of the fuel tank is prevented when a negative pressure gradient between the interior pressure of the tank-venting system or of the fuel tank and the ambient pressure, which is measured outside of the vehicle, is detected or predicted.
Furthermore, a short time span (minimum time) can be pregiven between parking the vehicle and the gas-tight or vapor-tight closing of the fuel tank system. In this way, it can be effectively avoided that an overpressure develops as long as the fuel still vaporizes in the fuel tank because of a previous sloshing of the fuel in the fuel tank.
Correspondingly, a minimum waiting time between a detected tanking operation and the vapor-tight or gas-tight closing of the fuel tank system can be pregiven. A tanking operation can be sensed or detected by a tank cover latch or the like. In this way, it can be avoided that the fuel tank system is closed gas tight or vapor tight too early for very fresh fuel which tends to vaporize intensely and this would likewise lead to a pressure buildup.
The arrangement according to the invention has especially a sensor to detect the above-mentioned physical condition quantity(ies). Furthermore, a computer unit is provided for determining a gas or vapor pressure, which is to be expected, in the fuel tank system while considering the determined condition quantity(ies). In addition, suitable control means are provided for guiding the gaseous or vaporous fuel via the active charcoal filter from the fuel tank system into the ambient of the vehicle and/or for the gas-tight or vapor-tight closure of the fuel tank system, especially for making possible a tightness check of the fuel tank system by means of the underpressure. This control means can include valves, pumps and/or control apparatus usually used in the area of the vehicle manufacture. The implementation can be carried out advantageously by means of slight modifications on an existing program code of a control apparatus or by means of the use in accordance with the invention of known hydraulic components such as pumps, valves or the like.
Preferably, the arrangement of the invention includes means, which coact with the computer unit, for detecting an impending parking of the vehicle. The advantages were already mentioned in the evaluation of the method suggested in accordance with the invention and correspondingly apply here. An impending parking of the vehicle can, for example, be detected or predicted from a switchoff of the engine or, already in advance of switching off the engine, via a switchoff of the vehicle lighting when the darkness of the ambient is detected. The state of the driver door (opening-closing for engine at standstill) can also be applied for making the prediction.
In the arrangement according to the invention, one or several temperature sensors can be provided, which coact with the computer unit and sense the temperature in the fuel tank system and/or the temperature in the ambient of the vehicle. Alternatively or simultaneously, pressure sensors can be provided for detecting pressure in the fuel tank system and/or the pressure in the ambient of the vehicle. As already mentioned, the quality of the prediction can be considerably improved by a pressure and/or temperature detection, which takes place simultaneously inside and outside of the vehicle, and a subsequent gradient formation.
In an especially advantageous embodiment, the arrangement includes a bistable valve mounted between the active charcoal filter and a filter provided for scavenging the active charcoal filter from time to time. The bistable valve is especially a de-energized bistable magnetic valve. A valve of this kind satisfies the above-described requirements according to the invention as to the gas flow control or vapor flow control in an especially efficient manner. In contrast to the magnetic valves used in a manner known per se, which are closed in the de-energized operating state, the valve, which is suggested by the invention, remains de-energized in the particular present open state, that is, either in the closed state or in the open state. A current pulse is needed only to switch over between these two states as well as in the one or in the other direction. This valve is so controlled during a detected parked phase of the vehicle that it only closes off the fuel tank system to the ambient gas tight or vapor tight when the ambient conditions permit the expectation of the development of an underpressure in the tank or in the fuel tank system. In the other cases, however, the valve is opened in order to thereby make possible a pressure compensation between the tank and the ambient unhindered via the active charcoal filter. With this measure, either a pressure drop of an already present overpressure in the fuel tank system or in the tank can take place or can be prevented. An overpressure now develops which would press out the fuel gas or fuel vapor through a possibly present leak.
To achieve a still higher reliability with respect to the escape of hydrocarbons, it can be provided that the valve is opened directly when an overpressure is detected by means of a pressure sensor mounted in the tank interior space in order to effectively prevent a further buildup of pressure.